Tag: Christians and Christianity

When It Comes to China, Pope Francis Keeps Criticism in Check

Media Library

The small group of Chinese Catholics who crossed the border to see Pope Francis covered their faces for fear of reprisal. Church officials blamed the Communist government for preventing mainland China’s bishops from coming to see the pope. And diplomats said that China had watched the pope’s activities closely, and warily. Yet as Pope Francis returned to Rome on Monday from a four-day trip to Mongolia, he had nothing but positive things to say about China. “The relations with China are very respectful — I personally have great admiration for…

When Dictators Find God

Chin@Strategy

What is the 21st century going to be about? If you had asked me 20 years ago, on, say, Sept. 10, 2001, I would have had a clear answer: advancing liberalism. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, the end of apartheid, Deng Xiaoping’s reforms in China, a set of values seemed to be on the march — democracy, capitalism, egalitarianism, individual freedom. Then over the ensuing decades, democracy’s spread was halted and then reversed. Authoritarians in China, Central and Eastern Europe and beyond wielded power. We settled into the…